Grand Marais has lost a great asset; our local car dealer had its franchise pulled out from under its feet. Not because it was not profitable, not because they did anything wrong. It didn’t cost GM a single penny for Grand Marais Motors to sell GM cars. In fact, GM will lose monthly franchise fees from these dealerships.
Small towns and rural areas do not fit into General Motor’s Brave New World. A piece of our independence has been taken away. Some of you may be saying, “I didn’t shop there anyway, so it won’t affect me.” Maybe not today, but imagine what may be taken away in the future.
So who can we thank for this loss? Hedge fund manager Steven Rattner, appointed to the Treasury to assist former Federal Reserve Bankster Timothy Geithner, deal with our auto industry.
Rattner founded the six billion dollar Quadrangle Group back in 2000. He drives many different cars but his wife, Maureen White, got her drunk driving arrest last October in their 2006 black Mercedes-Benz 350.
Rattner’s new emission standards will raise the price of a new car $600 – $1300, probably more on a new Benz. I’m not sure about that. But don’t worry Rattner will still have enough money to finish his 15 million dollar 15,500 sq. ft. mansion on Martha’s Vineyard even though it’s a little too close to an Indian burial ground, according to some historians in the area. It’s a place where he can relax while he is under investigation in the New York pension kickback scandal.
This is America. He has the freedom to be a hypocrite, but I have the freedom to hate hypocrites.
I’m not making a Hegelian left/right argument. Politicians are like pro-wrestlers; they only act like they hate each other. Example: Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Sonja Sotomayor, was first nominated to the US district court by George H.W. Bush in 1991.
Sadly, we the people pick sides and end up hating each other.
Tom Crosby
Grand Marais
Leave a Reply